This page will give you
transcriptions of Gregorian plainchant in modern staff notation for recorder, other
melody instrument or solo voice.

To download the scores, please click on the lines
with the pitch indication.

Because midi files sound horrible with this kind
of music I did not add them. I will send them on request (see page Contact).

A number of the pieces presented here have been
recorded on cd in 2009 with the title Suaviter by the Schola cantorum
Gregoriana Assen with Arnold den Teuling, conductor, recorder player and webmaster of this
site. The following pieces are sung by the Schola: offertorium Recordare,
graduale Christus Factus est, communio Factus est repente, and I play
the following pieces on treble recorder: introitus Si iniquitates, tractus Qui
confidunt, communio Aufer a me. The Schola sings another 21 pieces. You may
hear seven pieces here
en here. Click on the
titles of the pieces.

The booklet belonging to the cd contains some
comments on the performance and the complete Latin texts. A translation is avaliable for
free, per e-mail, but only in Dutch, see below.

The cd is available by remittance of 13 euro
(within Europe) or 16 euro (outside Europe) on account number 3028 87954J.E. Lutgert inz R.K. Zangkoor
SCG, Assen, mentioning "cd" and your address. The IBAN/SEPA-number is
NL16RABO0302887954, the BIC-number RABONL2U of the Rabobank. Send an e-mail to me, see the
page Contact, to synchronise the payment and dispatch, and
tell me whether you wish to receive the Dutch translation.

The revenue has been entirely intended for a new
organ in the parish church, as all production costs have been sponsored. But the Schola of
course sings a capella.

Click here for a more
comprehensive introduction. A description of my method for transcription may be found
below.

Gregorian chant is the one voiced vocal music in
use for the services of the Roman Catholic Church, in the form created since the
Carolingian Renaissance, circa 800. The more complicated pieces were sung by one solo
voice.

The pieces presented here are transformed into
modern 5-line staff notation. You will find them by clicking on the pitch indications.

I applied some particular signs: 1. a comma placed
above a note of a type called stropha; it is proposed to perform a glissando to or a
finger vibrato on that note; 2. a diamond above a note called liquescent; this note
should be given a sharp end articulation; 3. the sign ~ above a note called quilisma; this
sign indicates a shake or a glissando to the next note or a combination of both; a double
~ indicates a long shake and a single a short. Pointed notes and demisemiquavers should be
performed fluently and not precisely, mostly as an upbeat or a long appoggiatura. Other
ornaments (shakes) should not be precise either. An exact description of my modus
operandi, with a table, is here.

The time unit is one beat, except the beginning
notes of a piece or a sentence, which should be performed like an upbeat. The slurs and
ties represent the groups of neumatic signs.

You may also see what neumes look like in the
introit Gaudeamus, the version in square notes, and on the website of the Schola Freiburg
(D) Gregor und Taube .
In this site you may find an edition of the Graduale Romanum, the so called Graduale
restitutum, representing corrections and new opinions compared to the editions from the
beginning of the 20th century. In most pieces neumes have been superscribed above the
square notes. All pieces presented here may be found on the site Gregor und Taube:
Alleluia Excita, 3-d
Sunday of Advent, Tractus Qui confidunt and Communio Lutum fecit both 4-th Sunday of Lent, and
Communio Factus est repente, from Whitsunday, Introit Si
iniquitates, Offertorium Recordare and Comminio Aufer a me belong to the 28th Sunday
through the year, and the complete liturgy of the days around Christmas.

The tractus Qui confidunt is sung also after one
of the lectures of Easter Eve. The melody of the tractus Si confidunt has been used since
ancient times among others also in the tractus De profundis of the missa pro defunctis
(=Requiem-mass) and the seven cantica after the lectures of Easter Eve. The Requiem-mass
is included in Gregor und
Taube too, representing the modern graduale restitutum or corrected graduale, and in
modern notation, but the not restored version hier op IMSLP.
The complete not restored Liber usualis, both in square as in modern notation, may be
found on internet.

The notation and interpretation has changed
strongly in 12 centuries. Simultaneously with the beginning Early Music Movement
Benedictine monks in Solesmes, France, succeeded in deciphering the original notation from
the ninth century and in developing a new performance practice. This practice gains
increasing acceptance from the 1990-s. The main point of it is a performance with tone
lengths that diverge only in subtle distinctions. This is the so called semiological
opinion of Eugène Cardine and Alberto Turco (see the page Links). Turco made several
recordings with his two scholae on Naxos
cd's.

Another school in the performance practice of
Gregorian chant came into existence, the mensuralistic school. This school unites every
group of musical signs or neumes to basic time units, or more simply a regular beat. At
the base of it is the publication of J.W.A. Vollaerts, Rhythmic proportions in early
medieval chant (Leiden 1960). A more modern approach may be found in the works of J. van Biezen.

The mensuralistic opinion is the most appropriate
for performance on a melody-instrument, so the transcriptions presented here have been
made in accordance with the mensuralistic method.

The Latin texts have been added, to enable vocal
performance too, and to enable correct phrasing in instrumental performance. The
translations in the separate file have been made word to word from Latin as much as
possible. They do not agree with current bible translations which have been based on the
source text.

The recorder, in particular the alto recorder,
seems to be the most appropriate because its breathing technique is closest to vocal
performance. Other instrumentalists, however, are encouraged to try it, just as
solo-singers. The repertory is amazing both in quality and quantity. After these first 9
pieces I intend to transcribe all masses around Chritmas to Epiphany. The first one is the
mass of Christmas eve.

Gregorian chant has no fixed pitch. The beginning
note and the pitch of the tonic of every individual piece is chosen in a way that the
dominant or the recitation tone (tenor) of a corresponding psalm matches with the a' of
440 Hz. So some pieces are given at two different pitches.

Everybody is free to choose the pitch that is the
most appropriate for his instrument. The pitches given here are appropriate for the alto
recorder, when transposed one octave or a fourth or a fifth up (use soprano fingerings, if
necessary). I included a treble recorder version of the tractus Qui confidunt. Some
pieces, like the graduale Christus factus est, will also sound well on the tenor recorder.
On request I will make versions at every pitch, see the page Contact.